Scholtz’s Stellenbosch win makes it a seventh Futures title

Updated: November 9, 2015

South African Davis Cup player, Nik Scholtz captured his seventh Futures title in Stellenbosch on Sunday, beating top-seeded Austrian Pascal Brunner.Second seeded Scholtz triumphed 7-6 (5) 7-5 in the final played at the Maties Tennis Club on the University of Stellenbosch sports grounds.
The Boland player thrilled the hometown fans to beat the extremely hot conditions as he fought hard throughout the 2hr 23min battle.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the 24-year-old.
“The fact that I never gave up today, made the big difference,’ said Scholtz.
‘There were moments when I could have just let a game go, but I fought for every point because you never know. It wasn’t an easy final and we pretty much won the same amount of points I think so in the end the difference was the fact that I just kept going,’ said Scholtz.
In the opening set Pascal Brunner gave Scholtz a run for his money, but Scholtz kept his composure and the set went with serve until the tie breaker. The tie breaker was a battle on its own but Scholtz finally found the break to take the breaker after sixty seven minutes (7-5) to go a set up.
Scholtz found the early break in the second set and held serve to win the set 7-5 giving him the title.
‘It was a good week of tennis. I had strong opponents each round. Winning is always the goal, but I knew it would be tough. I enjoyed the week of tennis. The organisation of the tournament was really good and playing a tournament where I can sleep in my own bed does not happen often so I made the most of it!’ said Scholtz.
In the women’s singles final Namibia’s Lesedi Jacobs continued her giant killing run to win her maiden Futures title. The unseeded 18- year-old, a wild card into the tournament, shocked fifth seed Luisa Huber of Germany 7-6 (3) 5-7 6-1.
Jacobs fought hard from the first point of the match and the fight paid off. ‘It was a very tough match, my opponent is also a fighter but I kept telling myself I will not let go,’ said Jacobs.
‘The second set for the most part was an on and off, where we would alternate each point of the set.’
The Namibian junior was delighted with her first international senior title. ‘I am very pleased with the way things turned out, this win for me means a lot and it comes at a great time when I am making final preparations to go to US College next year. I couldn’t have imagined the week would end like this even though we all enter tournaments with the wish to win at the end.”
The second tournament of the Digicall Futures Series, the Digicall Futures 2 will be played this coming week with first round matches starting Tuesday at the same Stellenbosch venue.
In the doubles final, South Africa’s Madrie le Roux teamed up with Netherlands player Erika Vogelsang to beat Zimbabwe’s Valeria Bhunu and Jacobs 7-6 (6) 6-2.

Picture of Scholtz in action during the final, courtesy of Eunice Visagie/Outsider Communications